Free All of My Soul by Jenni Wilder Page B

me. Instead of pushing me into the
water, he jumped in himself, taking me with him.
    My scream was suddenly cut off as we hit the
water and sank like a rock. Lincoln held me close to him, and I
felt him push off the bottom of the pool. The water was warm, and
had I not been in jeans and a sweater, it would have been
perfect.
    Lincoln smiled widely at me as we surfaced.
He shook his head to get his wet hair out of his eyes, and I rubbed
my face. I was still clinging to him, only now we were
face-to-face, my legs wrapped around his waist and my arms circled
around his neck.
    I couldn’t help but smile back at him. Sure
we were both soaking wet, but they were only clothes. They could be
washed.
    “That was fun,” he said.
    His big goofy grin made my heart flutter. He
was irresistible like this. So happy and full of joy. I pulled
myself closer to him and kissed him hard on the mouth. He kissed me
back with passion, and it wasn’t too long before I heard Kennedy
complain.
    “Oh, come on! I wanted to see her get pissed
at him, not making out in my pool. AHHH!!”
    I pulled away from Lincoln and looked up in
time to see Brian lift up his wife and throw her into the pool.
Only he wasn’t as nice as Lincoln. He managed to stay dry with his
feet on the ground as his wife sailed through the air and into the
water. She shrieked as she surfaced quickly.
    “You are so dead, Brian!” she cried. She swam
to the ladder and hoisted herself out of the pool, her cotton
pajama pants and tank top clinging to her body.
    Brian laughed and tried to dodge out of her
grasp, but she managed to climb on his back. She was dripping wet,
and now half of Brian was too. He must have realized this because
he grabbed her legs to keep her from letting go of him as he ran
for the pool. I couldn’t help but laugh as he jumped into the
water, taking her with him.
    Matt made a move to grab his girlfriend but
Kailey took a step backward toward the door and held up her hand.
“Don’t even think about it, Matthew. This sweater is cashmere!”
    She turned and stormed out of the atrium.
Matt gave a longing look back at those of us having fun in the pool
but then turned and begrudgingly followed his girlfriend back into
the house. Poor guy.
    Shrieks from my sisters drew my attention as
Deacon attempted to maneuver both of them into the pool. Deacon
grabbed Emily’s right arm and Rebecca’s left arm and pulled them to
the pool as he walked backward toward it. Deacon was just like
Lincoln, full of muscles, and if he wanted you to do something,
there was little you could do to fight against it. Although both my
sisters tried. They both pulled against him until the last second
before they reached the pool. In a quick move, Rebecca grabbed
Deacon’s arm and surrendered to the inevitable. She jumped in which
caused enough momentum that Deacon was unable to stop himself from
going in with her while pulling Emily along with him. Once they
surfaced, the three of them began splashing each other, which gave
me an idea.
    I thought Lincoln was distracted but as soon
as I brought my hand back to splash him, he grabbed it and shook
his head at me with a smile.
    “Remember what the punishment is for
splashing, Princess.”
    I bit my lip to try to stop from smiling as I
remembered our Valentine’s Day bath. Tickling was the punishment,
but it was worth it. He must have seen the gleam of mischief in my
eyes because before I could splash him he moved his hand to my
waist and began tickling me.
    I screamed loudly, not caring about waking
the kids anymore since it seemed as if the metal door would block
out the sound. “No fair! I didn’t splash you!”
    “Oh, but you wanted to. I could see it in
your eyes.”
    I tried to push away from him, but he still
had one hand around my wrist, and every time I managed to get out
of his reach, he would pull me back while laughing at me.
    Our playing was shortly interrupted by a
large echoing splash coming from the other end of the